IN
THE
WIND
P42
DAVIES BREAKS THE GLASS CEILING
O
f all the things that hap-
pened at Motorland Aragon
for round three of the 2015
World Superbike Championship
on April 12, two may stand the
test of time most sturdily.
The first and most visibly was
that Ducati and Chaz Davies on
the Aruba.it Racing Ducati ma-
chine smashed the glass ceiling
that had been suffocating the
once dominant Italian marque
for a few years when he won a
clear victory in race two.
He ran away assuredly from
form-man Kawasaki's Jonathan
Rea, but only when the track
had warmed up sufficiently in
the afternoon in race two, de-
spite almost winning the much
cooler morning 18-lapper.
Race two was the first win
for the Panigale, the first win for
Ducati since Magny Cours in
2012 (the 1098R with Guintoli,
a privateer no less) and the first
win for Davies since he was a
BMW rider in 2013.
The second memorable mo-
ment was that in winning race
one—just—and finishing second
in race two, Kawasaki Racing
Team's Jonathan Rea now has
a 26 point lead over his near-
est championship challenger,
Aprilia Racing Red Devils Leon
Haslam.
For Davies, the heartfelt and
publicly announced need for
speed from his bike that made
him suffer so much in the previ-
ous round was washed away by
a win, all the sweeter because in
race one he had been so close
to that breakthrough 25-pointer,
just .051 of second after two
lunges at Rea on the final lap.
"I had to try in race one. Be-
ing that close, why not? Tried.
Failed. Next!" was his witty sum-
mation of an exciting last few
corners.
That next was his history-mak-
ing race win. "It is a relief a little
bit because we have been close
and had missed opportunities
last year," said Chaz. "I feel it
has been a long time coming
because we were competitive
even at times last year but this
is really important as well. It has
been a long time since I won a
race. I feel chuffed to bits."
Chaz Da-
vies and the
Panigale finally
took a race
victory, the first
for any Ducati
since 2012.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
